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2024 Best Legal Professions Master's Degree Schools

124 Colleges in the United States
7,113 Master's Degrees
$60,062 Avg Early-Career Salary
Legal Professions isn't the most popular master's program in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #18 in popularity out of 37 majors in the country. So, it might take a little more work to find colleges and universities that offer the degree program.

College Factual looked at 124 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Legal Professions Master's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 7,113 master's degrees in legal professions during the 2020-2021 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

Best Legal Professions Master's Degree Schools The legal professions master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality legal professions program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for legal professions students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Legal Professions Rankings Other Ranking Categories

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Legal Professions Master's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.


 

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in legal professions. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

1
Georgetown crest
Georgetown University
Washington, DC
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
323 Annual Graduates

Georgetown University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in legal professions. Georgetown is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Washington.More information about a master’s in legal professions from Georgetown University

2
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
94 Annual Graduates

Columbia University in the City of New York is a great decision for individuals pursuing a master's degree in legal professions. Columbia is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.More information about a master’s in legal professions from Columbia University in the City of New York

3
UPenn crest
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
70 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in legal professions needs to take a look at University of Pennsylvania. UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.More information about a master’s in legal professions from University of Pennsylvania

4
NYU crest
New York University
New York, NY
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
195 Annual Graduates

New York University is a good choice for individuals interested in a master's degree in legal professions. NYU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.More information about a master’s in legal professions from New York University

5
Harvard crest
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
64 Annual Graduates

Located in the midsize city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in legal professions from Harvard University

6
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
215 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in legal professions from University of Southern California

7
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
181 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in legal professions from Northwestern University

8
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
279 Annual Graduates

WUSTL is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Saint Louis.More information about a master’s in legal professions from Washington University in St Louis

9
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
28 Annual Graduates

UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.More information about a master’s in legal professions from University of Chicago

10
Stanford crest
Stanford University
Stanford, CA
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
15 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in legal professions from Stanford University

11
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
119 Annual Graduates

Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in legal professions from University of California - Berkeley

12
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
103 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in legal professions from George Washington University

13
Boston U crest
Boston University
Boston, MA
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
118 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in legal professions from Boston University

14
Vanderbilt crest
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
4 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in legal professions from Vanderbilt University

15
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
5 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Charlottesville, University of Virginia is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in legal professions from University of Virginia - Main Campus

16
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
135 Annual Graduates

Loyola Chicago is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago.More information about a master’s in legal professions from Loyola University Chicago

17
UF crest
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
88 Annual Graduates

UF is a fairly large public university located in the city of Gainesville.More information about a master’s in legal professions from University of Florida

18
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
209 Annual Graduates

University of Oklahoma is a very large public university located in the midsize suburb of Norman.More information about a master’s in legal professions from University of Oklahoma Norman Campus

Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great schools for Legal Professions students that almost earned our Best Legal Professions Master's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
19 Fordham University Bronx, NY
20 Texas A&M University - College Station College Station, TX
21 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI
22 University of California - Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA
23 Emory University Atlanta, GA
24 University of Washington - Seattle Campus Seattle, WA
25 University of Miami Coral Gables, FL

View the Best Legal Professions Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

View All Rankings >

Major Annual Graduates
Legal Research 5,581
Legal Professions (Other) 1,008
Non-Professional General Legal Studies 418
Legal Support Services 106

Related Major Annual Graduates
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting 11,614

Notes and References

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